16 U.S. Code § 955 - Secretary of State to act for United States

(a) Approval of commission bylaws and rules; action on reports, requests, and recommendations

The Secretary of State is authorized to approve or disapprove, on behalf of the United States Government, bylaws and rules, or amendments thereof, adopted by each commission and submitted for approval of the United States Government in accordance with the provisions of the conventions, and, with the concurrence of the Secretary of Commerce, to approve or disapprove the general annual programs of the commissions. The Secretary of State is further authorized to receive, on behalf of the United States Government, reports, requests, recommendations, and other communications of the commissions, and to take appropriate action thereon either directly or by reference to the appropriate authority.

(b) Regulations

Regulations recommended by each commission pursuant to the convention requiring the submission to the commission of records of operations by boat captains or other persons who participate in the fisheries covered by the convention, upon the concurrent approval of the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Commerce, shall be promulgated by the latter and upon publication in the Federal Register, shall be applicable to all vessels and persons subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

(c) Rulemaking procedures; prohibitions

Regulations required to carry out recommendations of the commission made pursuant to paragraph 5 of article II of the Convention for the Establishment of an Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission shall be promulgated as hereinafter provided by the Secretary of Commerce upon approval of such recommendations by the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Commerce. The Secretary of Commerce shall cause to be published in the Federal Register a general notice of proposed rulemaking and shall afford interested persons an opportunity to participate in the rulemaking through

(1) submission of written data, views, or arguments, and

(2) oral presentation at a public hearing. Such regulations shall be published in the Federal Register and shall be accompanied by a statement of the considerations involved in the issuance of the regulations. After publication in the Federal Register such regulations shall be applicable to all vessels and persons subject to the jurisdiction of the United States on such date as the Secretary of Commerce shall prescribe, but in no event prior to an agreed date for the application by all countries whose vessels engage in fishing for species covered by the convention in the regulatory area on a meaningful scale, in terms of effect upon the success of the conservation program, of effective measures for the implementation of the commission’s recommendations applicable to all vessels and persons subject to their respective jurisdictions. The Secretary of Commerce shall suspend at any time the application of any such regulations when, after consultation with the Secretary of State and the United States Commissioners, he determines that foreign fishing operations in the regulatory area are such as to constitute a serious threat to the achievement of the objectives of the commission’s recommendations. The regulations thus promulgated may include the selection for regulation of one or more of the species covered by the convention; the division of the convention waters into areas; the establishment of one or more open or closed seasons as to each area; the limitation of the size of the fish and quantity of the catch which may be taken from each area within any season during which fishing is allowed; the limitation or prohibition of the incidental catch of a regulated species which may be retained, taken, possessed, or landed by vessels or persons fishing for other species of fish; the requiring of such clearance certificates for vessels as may be necessary to carry out the purposes of the convention and this chapter; and such other measures incidental thereto as the Secretary of Commerce may deem necessary to implement the recommendations of the commission: Provided, That upon the promulgation of any such regulations the Secretary of Commerce shall promulgate additional regulations, with the concurrence of the Secretary of State, which shall become effective simultaneously with the application of the regulations hereinbefore referred to

(1) to prohibit the entry into the United States, from any country when the vessels of such country are being used in the conduct of fishing operations in the regulatory area in such manner or in such circumstances as would tend to diminish the effectiveness of the conservation recommendations of the commission, of fish in any form of those species which are subject to regulation pursuant to a recommendation of the commission and which were taken from the regulatory area; and

(2) to prohibit entry into the United States, from any country, of fish in any form of those species which are subject to regulation pursuant to a recommendation of the commission and which were taken from the regulatory area by vessels other than those of such country in such manner or in such circumstances as would tend to diminish the effectiveness of the conservation recommendations of the commission. In the case of repeated and flagrant fishing operations in the regulatory area by the vessels of any country which seriously threaten the achievement of the objectives of the commission’s recommendations, the Secretary of Commerce, with the concurrence of the Secretary of State, may, in his discretion, also prohibit the entry from such country of such other species of tuna, in any form, as may be under investigation by the commission and which were taken in the regulatory area. The aforesaid prohibitions shall continue until the Secretary of Commerce is satisfied that the condition warranting the prohibition no longer exists, except that all fish in any form of the species under regulation which were previously prohibited from entry shall continue to be prohibited from entry.

“Secretary of Commerce” substituted in text for “Secretary of the Interior” in view of: creation of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Department of Commerce and Office of Administrator of such Administration; abolition of Bureau of Commercial Fisheries in Department of the Interior and Office of Director of such Bureau; transfers of functions, including functions formerly vested by law in Secretary of the Interior or Department of the Interior which were administered through Bureau of Commercial Fisheries or were primarily related to such Bureau, exclusive of certain enumerated functions with respect to Great Lakes fishery research, Missouri River Reservoir research, Gulf Breeze Biological Laboratory, and Trans-Alaska pipeline investigations; and transfer of marine sport fish program of Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife by Reorg. Plan No. 4 of 1970, eff. Oct. 3, 1970, 35 F.R. 15627, 84 Stat. 2090, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.